Recent News: Succesful Kickstarter campaign for “When the Ground Breaks” project at Soapbox Gallery; Week-long residency with UteHaus at the Marina Abramovic Studio, New York City

About: Performed during Sexuate Subjects Conference and exhibited in Whirlwinds, in homage to Luce Irigaray, December 2010 at the Bartlett School of Architecture, in London. During bi-monthly walks around the Atlantic Yards Construction Project, I will photograph the physical changes and collect audio accounts from locals about their neighborhood.

Thoughts on MECA: MECA’s MFA program affirms how the unforeseen emerges in the repeated chances we take with the structures and gestures that inspire us. Therefore, art is never done. I am currently in Ernesto Pujol’s performance company, UteHaus. We are developing a work called Affinitas, scheduled to be performed on November 11th, 2011.

About: My studio is in an old medicine factory in a forgotten corner of Memphis, Tennessee and my current work reflects a landscape of entropy, abandonment, and reclamation. I’m working on a series of intricate gouaches that strive to find a balance between abstraction and the stark reality of this place.

Thoughts on MECA : MECA gave me the critical thinking skills I need as an artist working in a solitary, isolated atmosphere. The inner dialogue I developed at MECA continues to guide me as I move forward in my work.

About: Currently, with the Institute for Infinitely Small Things, I'm creating a body of work about insecurity and fear in the landscape in collaboration with a Tohono O'odham woman who lives on the US-Mexican border in southern AZ. I also run the Affective Geographies Research Group at RISD where we look at how new technologies are transforming our relationships to mapping, cartography and place.

Thoughts on MECA: I only applied to one grad school and that was MECA because I knew it was the perfect balance of theory and practice for me. Little did I know that MECA would wreak havoc on my art practice and all my preconceived notions about art-making. THANK GOODNESS because I'm not sure where I got my previous ideas about art. I guess a modernist textbook? MECA opened up a landscape of contemporary theory, practice and possibility. GO MECA. I love you!

Recent News: 2011 DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities Fellow (award); MidNights: Photographs + Writings (2011 publication); Through the Lens: Visions of Urban Renewal, The Center for Green Urbanism, Washington, DC (2010 panelist);About: Alexandra Silverthorne uses the camera as a means to understand and explore spatial environments and encounters. As projects evolve, her photographs often move beyond the mat and the frame to become sculptural objects, projections, and installations. Based in Washington, DC, she currently teaches photography at American University and the University of the District of Columbia.

Thoughts on MECA: Being at MECA gave me chance to experiment and grow with my work, to create a network of peers and friends, and to interact with and learn from a fantastic group of artists. Since graduating, I have coordinated the MFA Alumni Residency Program, which allows alums to return to campus in the summer and work alongside the current MFA students and faculty.

Recent News: In 2011 Jonathan Wayne received a $20,000 Creative Workforce Fellowship grant for his work as a photographer and sculptor through the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. He did a six-week artist residency at the Burren College of Art in Ballyvaughan Ireland in 2010.

About: My current work involves creating a series of site-specific sculptural installations in post-industrial cities around the Great Lakes. The series, Tempus Edax use degradable materials to create traditionally shaped memorial forms to create curious sites of memory. I teach photography and digital imaging and serve as Chair of the Photography Department at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland Ohio.

Thoughts on MECA: My experience at MECA reinvigorated my art practice and took me in directions I never anticipated. The artists, writers and thinkers I was introduced to there empowered me to investigate my work in ways that reached out as well as back. I emerged from the program a much more complete artist and thinker with a peer group that continues to enrich my work.

Artwork by MECA MFA alums and current students are regularly featured in The M+B Gallery, a gallery based in the MECA MFA Office.

The MFA Alumni Residency is designed to bring a small group of alumni back to Maine each summer. Running congruent to the MFA Summer Intensive, alumni return to the MECA studios for 5 weeks to engage in an intensive on campus experience.

Studio SpaceResidents will be provided studio space in the Porteous building. Alumni will receive 24-hour access to the studio spaces.

Teaching OpportunitiesReturning alum are invited to participate as visitors in student critiques in the MFA, as well as in the Pre College and the Art Teachers Fellowship Programs. Residents may propose to lead studio workshops and demonstrations and conduct studio visits with current MFA students.

Learning OpportunitiesAlumni Residents will receive at least one studio visit from a MFA Visiting Artist during the course of the residency. Alumni will be invited to participate in some classroom discussions and activities.MFA Open HouseThe MFA alumni concludes with the annual MFA Open House at which alumni are able to present their work in the Porteous Building during Portland’s First Friday Art Walk. At this event, alumni may be called upon to represent the program to perspective students and community members,

Studio FeesAlumni Residents pay a flat studio fee of $350 for the length of the residency. They are also responsible for all associated studio lab fees for use of the photography and printmaking labs.

Housing OptionsAlumni Residents may decide to stay in MECA housing (pending availability) and will pay the same rates as the MFA students. Housing is available for either single ($775 for the month) or double occupancy ($593/month). While residents may choose to bring a spouse as well (an additional $250 fee), there are no children allowed in the residence halls. A non-refundable placement fee of $100 and a security deposit of $400.00 are also required.

DatesThe dates for the 2015 Alumni Residency are July 6 - July 31, 2015.

ApplicationRequired Application Materials:

1. Statement of intent

2. One page statement discussing the following: what you plan to work on during the residency, your studio and equipment needs, why you are interested in returning to MECA, and finally, your interests in interacting with current MFA students (participating in crits, studio visits, leading workshops, etc.).3. Images: 5-10 images of recent work